Mothers lose up to €200k in pensions

Staying at home for four to five years to look after new born children can cost a mother up to €200,000 in pension contributions.

A recent study by IFG Corporate Pensions found that women fared even worse than was previously assumed when real-life comparison models were run. The study aimed to look at the effect of that absence from the workforce on a typical pension fund.

The results revealed that a mother who chooses to stay at home for five years from 35 to 40 would end up with a pension fund worth €194,316 less than if she had uninterrupted service, when she retires at age 68. That calculation is based on an annual salary of €50,000.